


Just Say No

by iridescentglow



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Drug Use, M/M, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-30
Updated: 2005-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-23 14:08:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/927403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iridescentglow/pseuds/iridescentglow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan's bravado about drugs was about 70% bluff, Duncan guessed – but there was a spark of true pleasure in his voice whenever he talked about the money he earned from his sporadic dealing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Say No

"This is good shit, man," Logan said, turning the pill bottle over and studying the label with a connoisseur's concentration. They were Duncan's brand new antidepressants; the ones that had appeared on the kitchen counter that morning. "I mean, it's not gonna give you a proper high, not gonna make every moment feel like fucking Veronica Mars in a field of daisies. But it's pharmaceutical grade. And there's a market for it. I could sell this and make a tidy profit, no problem." Logan tossed the bottle up in the air and caught it behind his back. He repeated the motion a few more times, throwing and catching as if it were a hacky sack.

Duncan lay back on sun-warmed concrete and tried to imagine fucking Veronica in a field of daisies. He doubted even Logan, with his enviable list of contacts, could produce a drug that good.

Logan's bravado about drugs was about 70% bluff, Duncan guessed – but there was a spark of true pleasure in his voice whenever he talked about the money he earned from his sporadic dealing. Duncan didn't care about money; it washed over him, unseen, unappreciated. He recognized only its trappings. He looked at his house and saw not $4 million carelessly spent, but only his mother's desperate need to be better than everyone else. Logan, by contrast, was quietly fanatical about money. Duncan suspected it sprang from an uneasiness that Logan buried deep inside himself: an inkling that one day Aaron would disown him, fail to forgive him for something (everything), or, worst of all, reveal that he'd never really loved him at all.

"Seriously." Logan had crouched down next to him, and Duncan opened his eyes to find him very close by. "You really gonna take this stuff?"

"Uh huh." Duncan's mouth struggled against the words. He ran his tongue along his bottom lip. Logan caught his gaze for a moment, and then stood up.

The heat that day had an unbearable _thickness_ to it, like a blanket being pressed down against your face. They were in a huge kidney-shaped swimming pool, and Duncan felt like he might be drowning. When Logan had pulled into the Neptune High parking lot that morning, only to cut a U-turn and speed away in the opposite direction, Duncan hadn't felt moved to argue with him. School, like so many other things, had shrunk to insignificance in the past few weeks. Logan had driven them, instead, to a housing complex on the far side of town. The construction company had run out of money earlier in the year, leaving five half-built mansions on a desolate stretch of land. Leering monstrosities of houses; empty swimming pools; lawns stripped of grass. 

Logan seemed to collect the whereabouts of out-of-the-ordinary locations. Empty houses, abandoned warehouses, closed golf courses, old cold war bomb shelters— if they existed in Neptune, he knew about them; squirreling away the knowledge for his own purposes. There were the parties, of course; the sporting events (from innocuous late-night soccer games to _Fight Club_ -style boxing); and Duncan knew that Logan had reserved many of his secret places for Lilly alone.

"This is the _mag_ ical solution?" Logan continued, with a bite of sarcasm.

"According to my mom," Duncan said, mirthlessly.

"Well!" Logan grinned. "We'll see!" He yanked the childproof cap off the bottle, and shook two of the small, white pills into his hand.

"What are you doing?" Duncan frowned, propping himself up. He squinted as the sun flared around the edges of Logan's body.

Logan stuck out his tongue and placed one of the pills ostentatiously on its tip. His tongue withdrew and he swallowed hard. "There!" He produced an even wider grin. "All better! Tell your mom thanks," he added.

Duncan stood up, and he could see that Logan's grin had faded.

"Your turn," Logan said, his eyebrows quirking slightly. He held out his hand, the remaining pill in then centre of his palm. Duncan hesitated. When he finally reached out to take it, Logan pulled his hand away.

Slowly, Logan took the pill between thumb and forefinger—"You want it? You want the magical cure?" —and placed it on the tip of his tongue as before.

Logan leaned forward. He paused for second before his head tilted toward Duncan. (Duncan realized dimly that this was his chance— to say, _No_.) Logan's tongue withdrew slightly. He teased for a moment, lips barely brushing Duncan's, before his tongue slid inside Duncan's mouth. Duncan felt the hard edges of the pill, the insistent push of Logan's tongue. Duncan closed his eyes, savouring the warmth as Logan's tongue did one final sweep of his mouth.

Logan broke the kiss. Rocking back on his heels, his head rolled idly to one side. "Swallow," he commanded, and Duncan realized the pill had reached the back of his throat.

Duncan swallowed.

"There," Logan said with grim satisfaction. "Don't you feel _better_?" His lip curled, and Duncan drew nearer.

As they began to kiss once more (all hard edges and synthetic warmth), Duncan wondered faintly if Logan had chosen this place precisely for this purpose. There were worse ways to lose your virginity, Duncan reasoned.


End file.
